Dubai - MENA Herald: The Dubai Association Centre (DAC) participated in the 4th European Association Summit (EAS) 2016 held in Brussels recently. The Summit gathered over 100 European Associations’ decisions makers to talk about topics such as new technology, communication, financing and associations management.
As a destination partner of the summit, DAC received great interest from the attendees and held over 50 meetings with international associations based in Belgium expressing interest in the Centre and in knowing more about Dubai as a hub for international associations.
Besides attending the summit, DAC also participated in the roundtable discussion of the Global Association Hub Partnership to exchange ideas with associations’ executives and better understand how the four destinations including Washington, Brussels, Dubai and Singapore, as part of DAC, Destination DC, Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau and visit.brussels can serve as global association hubs and help associations expand internationally.
During the meetings, held on the side-lines of the summit as part of their promotional visit, the DAC officials apprised European associations interested in setting up a base in the emirate about the attractiveness of the business environment and the requirements of joining the Centre, while the ambassadors of DAC at the panel discussions highlighted the benefits of joining the Centre and the services offered by Dubai which they said has excellent infrastructural and logistics facilities including world-class airports to reach out to the regional markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
Hassan Al Hashemi, Member of the Executive Committee of DAC and Vice-President of International Relations, Dubai Chamber, stated that DAC’s participation in the summit was very successful as the Centre held over 50 meetings with representatives of European associations and achieved its purpose of promoting Dubai as a gateway to markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
Al Hashemi further stressed that DAC allows a formal environment where international non-profit, scientific and professional associations can form a membership-based community and open a regional representative office to conduct business in the UAE and the wider Middle East region.
He added that since its establishment, the Centre has succeeded in attracting a number of global professional associations which have enhanced the competitiveness of the emirate’s economic sectors.
Dubai Association Centre was established in the beginning of 2014 under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dubai Business Events (DBE, part of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing) and the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) to offer assistance for the establishment of non-profit, apolitical and nonreligious professional associations and trade bodies in the emirate of Dubai.
For associations, the advantages of setting up in Dubai go beyond the obvious attractions of a well-developed city at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and all the prospects for new business this creates. DAC provides practical support, in the form of serviced office accommodation in Sheikh Rashid Tower and access to the networking facilities of the World Trade Club, both located at Dubai World Trade Centre, the region’s leading events and exhibition venue.